Chapter 26: Three Laboratories

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Although it had parts of Ruby's memory, in reality, it severely lacked understanding of Ruby. Walsh, the Creator.

The memories in its mind were fragmented, making it difficult to piece together a complete trajectory, and a significant portion of them were of Ruby's childhood memories. The Ruby of that time seemed to be a lively, earnest, studious, and aspiring child with a hint of rebelliousness, but it was hard to connect that child with the crazed woman Ybur saw when it first opened its eyes.

In addition to these childhood memories, there was also some other information embedded in Ybur's memory.

For example, there were memories of Ruby traveling far and wide to create the "Demon King Slime." In truth, these memories were not comprehensive or detailed, with no information on how Ruby conducted the experiments. But from what Ybur could glean—

Ruby's laboratories were not just one.

Furthermore, it knew the locations of these laboratories.

That was probably some sort of contingency Ruby had left for herself. After all, the experiments she conducted could not be exposed to light, forcing her to be as cunning as a rabbit with multiple burrows. By deliberately leaving these memories to it, Ybur considered that there must indeed be something valuable left in Ruby's laboratories for it to retrieve.

If that were the case... then it might really be necessary to visit Ruby's laboratories.

Ybur carefully recalled the locations of Ruby's three laboratories.

The memories were a bit hazy, so it stretched out a tentacle, inserting it into its own body, stirring within its gel-like tissue as though fishing for memories.

After a while, Ybur's thoughts indeed became clearer amidst this stirring process.

It remembered!

Ruby's laboratories were three in total, one in each the Uptown District and Downtown District, and another one outside the city.

The Uptown District laboratory was where Ruby was arrested by the Special Duties Bureau and also where the golden toilet that Ybur absolutely did not want to recall... was situated.

The place was most likely thoroughly investigated by the Special Duties Bureau, probably not even a feather left behind, so it could be dismissed from consideration.

The downtown laboratory, as Ruby remembered, was located somewhere within the complex network of the city sewers.

The sewer network of Xinlandon City was extraordinarily complicated because, before the day of the meteor fall, Xinlandon was an international metropolis home to millions of people. After the catastrophe, the city transitioned underground, then was affected by several earthquakes. The already complex subterranean network was constructed, destroyed, and reconstructed countless times. It merged with natural caves, forming a network of unfathomable tunnels, water channels, and cavern systems that meandered unseen through every corner of the city.

The currently functional part of the city's sewer system was only a very small fraction of this extensive network, with much more forgotten in the dark depths. The environment there was hardly more hospitable than the wilderness outside the city, with rats, spiders, mining beetles or Slimes commonplace. Misshapen, bloodthirsty plants were frequent visitors, and some urban legends even suggested that ghosts waft through those abandoned sewers.

In short, it was a mess, extremely complex.

Compared to that place's complex environment, the wilderness outside the city might even seem better.

If one tried to find Ruby's laboratory by diving directly into the sewers, it would be utterly impossible, with the city's sewers being more labyrinthine than any maze—a God-knows-how-many-layered three-dimensional puzzle, with certain areas even holding Magic-infused mazes and Illusion Techniques. Trying to find a specific location in the sewers would be harder than finding a needle in a haystack.

But Ybur remembered that Ruby's laboratory should be near the Vine District in the Downtown area.

After lifting a manhole cover in the Vine District and venturing deeper, then climbing over a crumbling wall, one could almost reach Ruby's laboratory directly.

But the Vine District was already quite central in the Downtown area, a place where the middle class lived. It was not advisable to go there during the day, and at night, there were many Nightwatchmen... so that laboratory would have to wait.

The last of Ruby's laboratories was located near Lake Koss.

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Lake Koss was a vast underground lake with thunderous subterranean waterfalls that plunged hundreds of meters in a majestic cascade. However, at the same time, the city's sewer network outlets were also located here; a massive amount of sewage and wastewater was directly discharged into the area, turning the once clear and beautiful Lake Koss into a fetid and poisonous swamp. The creatures that once lived near Lake Koss had mostly fled, leaving behind only a few that either had mutated or were completely unbothered by the filthy environment.

Ruby's laboratory's exact location was unclear to Ybur, but based on the images in Ruby's memory, it seemed to be situated higher up from Lake Koss, directly opposite the great waterfall. In any case, a thorough search in the vicinity should yield some discovery.

As for how to get to Lake Koss... well...

The answer was still the sewers. This place was relatively easy to find, not deep within a complex labyrinth, but simply by following the flow of water, walking all the way, the last exit would be Lake Koss.

...No, a gold toilet, one in the sewers, and another located at the exit of the sewers, Ruby, why on earth are you so fond of heading downstream!!!

Ybur let out a righteous roar in his heart, then reluctantly began to crawl towards the city.

...

Upon waking in the morning, Cherie pulled out a black bucket from the corner of the room and removed the lid, only to find that it was empty.

She tapped it puzzledly a couple of times, and some powder trickled down. Then, she noticed a small hole in the corner of the large bucket as if it had been nibbled open.

"Damn rats!!"

Cherie was first furious then resigned. She sighed and said, "Karlo, we've run out of Nutrition Powder, and we need a new bucket too. We should get a new one that isn't so easily chewed through next time."

Karlo stretched and yawned, "Then go out and buy it."

The city's resources were so scarce that even breadsticks hard enough to bludgeon someone to death, with added sawdust, were rare commodities. The so-called Nutrition Powder was what people mainly consumed.

It was a gray powder, very cheap, primarily consumed by mixing it with water to form a mushy substance that could then be eaten. It was extremely simple. The taste was quite strange, faintly stinky, making one wonder what it was made of, yet it provided a meaty sensation when eaten, so it was actually quite popular.

Karlo rubbed her face sleepily, yawning as she rolled out of bed.

These past few days, she'd felt an unprecedented sense of relaxation and peace of mind.

She had finally learned to meditate.

Perhaps due to not having the same intense longing as her, or maybe because she hadn't taught well enough, Cherie had yet to find her way to meditation.

It didn't matter; if she became Transcendent first, she thought she'd be able to protect Cherie, Karlo thought.

Although... what to do next, she was still unsure. The book Cherie had obtained contained a vast amount of forbidden Transcendent Knowledge, which they both only half-understood. Some of the terms seemed to be jargon among Transcendents, completely incomprehensible without explanation, but at least they had taken the first step on a journey of a thousand miles.

Since they had verified the usefulness of this Transcendent Knowledge, Karlo was now somewhat anxious about having it. They had gone to the Church of the Stone Madonna to pray and exorcise evil the day before; would that prevent that voice from appearing ever again? But... a thread of hope twirled around Karlo's heart.

She felt that the mysterious presence seemed to bear no malice nor wickedness, perhaps it wouldn't be driven away by Holy Water, right?

Though aware that free things always came with a cost, Karlo began to secretly look forward to the "voice" reappearing.

Next time, the voice should bring new knowledge, shouldn't it?